"Since the start of the war in 2022, the Conservatives have accepted at least £243,000 from Russia-associated donors"
Hypocrisy has come to define the Conservative Party over the last 13 years in power, whether it be lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street, tax evasion by Tory MP while hiking taxes on everyone else, or acting as defenders of free speech while cracking down on protesters, the Tories say one thing and do another.
This principle also extends to foreign policy. While the government has sought to portray itself as being tough on Russia following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Tory party continues to receive large sums of money from individuals and companies with links to Russia.
The Good Law Project reports that “since the start of the war in 2022, the Conservatives have accepted at least £243,000 from Russia-associated donors – including at least £61,000 flowing into Tory coffers in 2023 alone.”
Among the donors include Lubov Chernukhin, a British and Russian citizen, who is married to Vladimir Chernukhin, a former deputy finance minister under Vladimir Putin.
The Tories reported in February this year that she had donated £10,000 to Brandon Lewis MP and a further £34,000 via ‘auction prizes’. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Mrs Chernukhin has handed £175,000 to the Tories.
Other donors include the British cabling company Aquind, which is controlled by Russian born oil tycoon Viktor Fedotov. Aquind has donated £42,000 to the Conservative Party in the past 14 months, including a £10,000 cash donation to Liam Fox MP reported in January this year.
Fedotov is reported to have made at least £72m from an offshore financial structure that appears to have funnelled money from Russian companies.
Another director of Aquind, Alexander Temerko, has donated a further £10,000 to the Tories over the same period.
A spokesperson for Aquind said Temerko “has been a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin and the current Russian regime” adding “Alexander’s donations, and Aquind’s donations with Alexander as founder and director, are in keeping with his belief in the Conservative Party’s platforms, but also its ideals”.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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